I've enjoyed a succession of serendipitous
moments this summer and early fall, but one of the most memorable has to be a
chance encounter at Full Sail's River Place pilot brewery last Wednesday,
September 26.

Portland has tossed her golden Indian Summer
mane in our direction, and I hopped at the chance to go boating with my friend
AJ, an owner at Uptown Market, a beer specialty store. On my way to the Marina,
he told me to stop by the brewery behind McCormack and Schmidt's as he was
speaking with some friends.

Little did I know these "friends" turned out
to be Jamie Emmerson and Irene Firmat, owners of Full Sail. Not only were they
sampling their fresh hop beer, they were also pre-partying for their 25th
Anniversary that they would celebrate the following day.

Jamie Emmerson Sterilizes the Zwickle

I had recently written a post for the Oregon
Live beer blog about Full Sail's fresh hop tour that had taken place on
September 10th, and I marveled that the beer gods had given me an
opportunity to taste the fruits of the fresh hop harvest.

Hops are picked in the morning and can be
used the same evening, but to make a fresh hop beer, they must be used within
2-4 days to reap the benefits of all the delightful floral and herbal flavors.
Brewing takes 8 hours and then it ferments in 4-5 weeks. So these hops were
harvested towards the end of August or early September.

Barney Brennan, the brewer at River Place,
explained that for a fresh hop beer, the hops are not dried; i.e. wet hops.
They literally pull the hop flowers right off the vine and use about five
pounds of hops per keg and ten pounds per barrel.

Sterilize the Zwickle

Jamie pulled out a propane torch to
sterilize the Zwickle before pouring the beer. I commented to Irene that this
was some fresh brew! We then entered a discussion about the inextricable
connection between true craft beer and the land. Irene made an impassioned case
that beer was an agricultural product and at the mercy of changing seasons and
weather patterns. Because I have been researching for an article on pumpkin
beers, I asked if Full Sail would have one of those. I might even go so far as
to say that she scoffed at such a notion. While I do not wholly spurn flavored
beers, I admire this line of purity in the Full Sail brewing mission.

I'm not sure I could get fresh hop beer any
fresher. Crisp, refreshing and authentic—much like the Full Sail vanguard of
craft of beer I was honored to meet.